Ten artists and organisations receive Australian Government project funding.
Natalie de Rozario
Ten regional arts and culture projects including artists and organisations, will receive a total investment of $218,153 through the Australian Government’s Regional Arts Fund, managed in Western Australia by Regional Arts WA.
The selected projects have an emphasis on the natural environment, inclusivity, and inter-cultural connection. Their contributions to the development of the arts sector will manifest in the creation of exciting and thought-provoking artworks, development programs and festivals, undoubtedly providing a lasting impact on communities.
Australian Government Minister for the Arts, Tony Burke, congratulated the recipients and their contributions to Australia’s arts scene.
“Supporting the arts isn’t just about the biggest venues in the capital cities. It’s about every part of Australia. That’s why we nearly doubled support for the Regional Arts Fund and that decision is now reverberating into every corner of Australia.”
CEO of Regional Arts WA, Dr. Pilar Kasat emphasises “the significance of the Australian Government’s investment in the Regional Arts Fund for the sector’s growth. With our WA regional communities, rich in history spanning over 65,000 years, constantly evolving and adapting, arts and culture serve a dynamic force in envisioning change, transmitting culture, and shaping contemporary expressions” Kasat said.
Regional Arts WA extends warm congratulations to the successful applicants and eagerly anticipates the realisation of their creative endeavors.
Image: Jacinta Jeffries, Cayleigh Davies and Zoe Gay, Retrieve Your Jeans In SPACE Development at Australian Dance Theatre, Funded by RAF Project Grant 2021, photography by Sam Roberts
The projects which have received funding this round include:
Arts Margaret River (South West) | $30,000 | Margaret River Readers & Writers Festival 2024 – workshop and development program
The program will provide eight opportunities for new and emerging authors to participate in a personal development program culminating in the creation and delivery of a writers workshop in the Margaret River Readers and Writers Festival 2024 program. Through a series of personal development sessions, mentoring, self-development, this program aims to help authors develop a new skill set and offering. The workshops will provide a platform for authors to share their own writing journeys, experiences, and ignite a passion for writing among all those who attend.
Helen Seiver (South West) | $21,853 | another way exhibition – artwork preparation and installation
The project involves the final preparation and installation of work by Helen Seiver and Desmond Taylor for the exhibition; another way at Holmes à Court Gallery. The funding will enable the selection and printing of important still images and the processing of video footage of site-specific work and installation filmed in Nullagine, WA.
Michelle Slarke (Wheatbelt) | $7,500 | FALLEN: a new body of work using terrestrial farm waste
Michelle Slarke will develop new works intersecting visual art, conservation, agriculture, and community activism. FALLEN begins with a found bird nest which are intricate, beautiful, contaminated. The funding will support installation/s, digital footage, and a literary-visual publication, leading to solo exhibition/s. This new body of work makes creative use of terrestrial farm waste to examine land use and stewardship.
Marrugeku Inc. (Kimberley) | $30,000 | Community dance workshop program in- conjunction with tour BURRBGAJA YALIRRA 2
Marrugeku will present a tailored community dance workshop program to three remote Kimberley communities to complement the tour of BURRBGAJA YALIRRA 2 [DANCING FORWARDS] TRIPLE BILL. This project showcases Marrugeku’s practice of using local cultural stories to express movement and facilitating local dance practice and storytelling.
Brendan Ritchie (South West) | $5,400 | Fujiwhara – a first-draft novel manuscript
Fujiwhara is a novel-length contemporary fiction set in Western Australia. The narrative follows multiple characters as they navigate the arrival of two cyclonic weather systems from the Indian Ocean amid the existing complications of their modern lives. Fujiwhara offers a generational exploration of contemporary Australian life amid the urgent and dramatic backdrop of climate change.
Blackwood River Arts Trail Inc. (South West) | $7,500 | Blackwood River Art Trail
Blackwood River Arts Trail 2024 will provide opportunities for artists from the Blackwood River region of WA to showcase their work in home studios and galleries, or by partnering with local cafes, gift shops or wineries. The regional communities in and around the four shires of the Blackwood River Valley will be enlivened by access to an array of cultural experiences that include exhibitions, creative demonstrations, live musical performances and arthouse films.
Breaksea Inc. (Great Southern) | $30,000 | Malkar/ Thunderstorm – workshop and performance program
Malkar/Thunderstorm is a singing, acting, and dance workshop and performance series exploring the thunderstorm as a metaphor for personal growth after a storm. Fostering side-by-side collaboration between youth participants and Breaksea’s Noongar/Wadjella professionals, the program facilitates intercultural creative relationships. Scheduled across a 3-month period in Kinjarling, the creative program provides cultural, singing, acting and dance activities for over 2,000 youth. The project is delivered via school incursions, an advanced youth artist stream, and artist-in-residence at the Albany Entertainment Centre during NAIDOC week.
Baiyungu Aboriginal Corporation (Gascoyne) | $30,000 | Jamba Nyinayi Festival
The Jamba Nyinayi Festival (JNF) is an Indigenous cultural arts and community festival, held and hosted on Baiyungu Country at Cardabia Station, just outside Coral Bay, WA. In 2024, JNF will be a free cultural arts festival that will attract and host visiting tourists and local communities. JNF will create authentic and meaningful experiences with the traditional owners of the Ningaloo and greater Gascoyne region.
Southern Forest Arts (South West) | $27,500 | Rivers of Thirst – Beacons of Hope
Rivers of Thirst – Beacons of Hope is a multi-stakeholder, is a multi-stakeholder, multi-faceted arts project across five communities within the Southern Forests & Valleys region. Inspiring climate hope and eco-agency, it supports individual and collective well-being through diverse, uplifting, and empowering experiences that deepen connections between people, places, and a brighter future. By raising awareness of the impact of drought and other natural disasters on individual and collective wellbeing, the project aims to enhance social capital through accessible and hands-on participation in a diverse range of interconnected multi-artform activities.
Magabala Books (Kimberley) | $28,400 | – Queer Writers Program
In 2024, Magabala Books will partner with Goolarri Media to present the first Queer Writers program at the inaugural Kimberley Blak Pride Festival in Rubibi (Broome). The program will provide a voice and safe space for the Kimberley’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sistergirl, Brotherboy LGBTIQA+ community. Coordinated by a local First Nations curator, the program will support 20+ local writers and artists to participate in workshops with four queer First Nations writers, leading to new work for a festival showcase.
For more regional funding opportunities, please head to our website:
www.regionalartswa.org.au/funding
Media Contact
Catherine Driver – Regional Arts WA General Manager
P: (08) 9200 6200 Regional Freecall 1800 811 883 E: cdriver@regional artswa.org.au
The Regional Arts Fund is one way the Australian Government supports regional artists and arts organisations to develop their artistic practice and produce works and experiences to benefit their local communities. The Regional Arts Fund is administered on behalf of the Australian Government by Regional Arts Australia and organizations in each state and territory which includes Regional Arts WA.
